EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 30, 1880_.
_To the Congress_:
I had the honor on the 15th instant to communicate to your honorable
body certain correspondence and documents in relation to affairs in
the Samoan Islands[29]; and having since that date received further
dispatches from the vice-consul at Apia and the commander of the United
States naval vessel _Nipsic_ in those waters, I lose no time in
laying them before you.
I also transmit herewith the full text of an instruction from Prince von
Bismarck to the German minister at this capital, which was communicated
to the Secretary of State on the afternoon of the 28th instant.
This appears to be an amplification of a prior telegraphic instruction
on the same subject communicated through the same channel, and, being
set forth in the note of the Secretary of State to Count von
Arco-Valley, the German minister, of the 12th instant, was duly laid
before Congress with my last message in relation to Samoan affairs.
It is also proper to inform you that on Monday, the 28th instant, the
occasion of the communication of the note of the Prince Chancellor, the
Secretary of State was given to understand by the German minister that
a proposition from his Government to that of the United States for a
conference on the Samoan subject was on its way by mail, having left
Berlin on the 20th instant, so that its arrival here in due course of
mail could be looked for in a very short time.
In reply to an inquiry from the Secretary of State whether the
proposition referred to was for a renewal of the joint conference
between the United States, Germany, and Great Britain which was
suspended in July, 1887, or for a consideration of Samoan affairs _ab
novo_, the German minister stated his inability to answer until the
proposition which left Berlin on the 20th instant should have been
received.
I shall hereafter communicate to the Congress all information received
by me in relation to the Samoan status.